Workout of the Day

Jun 21

More Fit Jeans, More Fit Genes

We have no shortage of reasons to physically challenge ourselves regularly. We are all well aware that exercise is a potent tool for affecting change in body composition, energy levels, strength and endurance performance, flexibility, mental acuity, and more.

Just another piece on our long list of potent effects of exercise is a five-syllable word that feels like high school biology class all over again: epigenetics.

In short, epigenetics is your ability to change how your genes are expressed (going back to high school biology: a change in gene phenotype without a change in genotype). What this means more practically is that your lifestyle choices -- including, in particular, things like exercise and nutrition -- can actually affect how your genes are outwardly expressed (how your cells read the genes). And even more significantly: these changes have profound effects on your offspring, too.

Without getting too deep down the rabbit hole, things like tumor-suppressing genes, your child’s mental fitness and risk of heart disease, risk of diabetes, and likelihood of obesity are all at stake here.

I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but your health, your wellness, and your children’s health and wellness is on the line in more ways than we can really wrap our head around. We have plenty of good reasons to eat well and move more -- now go make some good decisions.